The U.S. will take swift and serious economic measures against Russia in response to the pseudo-referendums

The White House said Friday that the U.S., along with its allies and partners, is prepared to take additional measures that would mean “swift and serious economic costs” for Russia in response to Russian pseudo-referendums aimed at seizing parts of Ukraine.

White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre at a briefing called the holding of sham referendums in Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine “a sham,” a “blatant violation of international law and an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that underlie the system of international law,” effectively repeating the definition previously given to these Russian actions by the U.S. president.

Jean-Pierre stressed that the United States “will never recognize this territory as anything other than part of Ukraine because it belongs to the people of Ukraine.”

“We will continue to stand firmly with the people of Ukraine and continue to provide unprecedented amounts of security support to help Ukrainians defend their territory and freedom,” Karin Jean-Pierre stressed.

The White House spokeswoman shared that the United States is aware that “Russian officials are setting targets for voter turnout and approval in referendums, and that in some regions they have already set the necessary turnout and voting numbers for becoming part of Russia at over 75%.”

“So, Russia is in a hurry to hold these sham referendums, but these are not ‘acts of trust…’ They are the exact opposite of that. We will continue to speak loudly about this,” Karin Jean-Pierre noted.

She also talked about how the U.S. assesses how serious Vladimir Putin is about his threat to use nuclear weapons:
“…we take these threats very seriously, but we see no reason to adjust our own nuclear policy at this time… President Joe Biden was very clear about the consequences of Russia using nuclear weapons during his interview with 60 Minutes. It would be a disaster for the world and Russia would become a pariah on the world stage,” the White House press secretary added.

Official Kiev and the West immediately condemned the referendums organized by the Kremlin as a “rigged vote,” the result of which had already been predetermined by Moscow.